Individuals detained for demanding money to transfer a convict in Tashkent

A lawyer and his accomplice, who posed as high-ranking officials and demanded a large sum of money to transfer a prisoner to another facility, have been detained in Tashkent. The incident was reported by the State Security Service of Uzbekistan.

According to the agency, a Tashkent resident born in 1980, previously convicted of fraud, introduced his associate, a lawyer from a local law firm, as a senior official at the Department for the Execution of Sentences under the Ministry of Internal Affairs. Through this deception, the pair demanded \$5,000 from a citizen in exchange for transferring an inmate, who was sentenced to 8 years and 7 months in prison in 2024 and is currently serving his sentence at Penitentiary Institution No. 1 in Bukhara—to Penitentiary Institution No. 7 in the Tashkent region.

The suspects were caught red-handed while receiving the bribe, and physical evidence was collected at the scene. A criminal case has been initiated under Articles 168 (Fraud) and 28,211 (Bribery) of the Criminal Code. Both individuals have been placed under arrest as a preventive measure.

It is worth noting that similar cases have been reported earlier in the Khorezm, Fergana, Tashkent, and Surkhandarya regions, where individuals attempted to illegally sell land plots worth over \$500,000.